Frazier named to Wooden Award Top 50

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State senior guard Tim Frazier (Houston, Texas) has been named to the Wooden Award Men’s Preseason Top 50. He is the second Nittany Lion in the last three years to be named to the preseason list, joining Talor Battle who was named prior to the 2010-11 season.

The Los Angeles Athletic Club announced the Preseason Top 50 chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball media members. The list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who, based on last year’s individual performance and team records, are the early front-runners for college basketball’s most prestigious honor. Frazier was among nine Big Ten players named to the list, which led all conferences.

The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the midseason list and the official voting ballot. Transfers, freshmen and medical redshirts are not eligible for the Preseason Top 50. The National Ballot will consist of approximately 20 top players who have proven to their universities that they are also making progress toward graduation and maintaining at least a cumulative 2.0 GPA. The Wooden Award All American Team, consisting of the nation’s top 10 players, will be announced the week of the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament.

The 37th annual Wooden Award ceremony will honor the Men’s and Women’s Wooden Award winners, and will include the presentation of the Wooden Award All American Teams and the Legends of Coaching Award, which in2013 will go to Kansas Head Coach Bill Self. The event will take place the weekend of April 12-13, 2013.

Frazier, a 2012 First-team All-Big Ten selection, was also named the preseason All-Big Ten team. He returns for his senior campaign after leading the Big Ten in assists (6.2) and finishing second in scoring (18.8) and steals (2.4) during a superlative junior campaign that saw him lead the nation accounting for 58 percent of his team’s offense. Also a Big Ten All-Defensive Team selection, Frazier was the only Division I player to average at least 17 points and six assists per game and set a Penn State season assist record with 198. The first Lion to lead the Big Ten in assists and just the third to lead the Big Ten in steals during the conference season, Frazier posted the seventh-best season point total in Penn State history and enters his final campaign needing just 30 points to become the Lions 30th 1,000-point scorer and 157 assists shy of eclipsing the career assist record of 600.

About the John R. Wooden Award

Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball. It is bestowed upon the nation’s best player at an institution of higher education who has proven to his or her university that he or she is making progress toward graduation and maintaining a minimum cumulative 2.0 GPA. Previous winners include such notables as Larry Bird (’79), Michael Jordan (’84), Tim Duncan (’97), Candace Parker (’07 and ’08), Kevin Durant (’09) and Maya Moore of Connecticut (’09 and ‘11). Kentucky freshman Anthony Davis won the men’s Award in 2012.

Follow the candidates and get the latest news throughout the season by logging on to www.WoodenAward.com or going to the Wooden Award Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/WoodenAward. For more information on the John R. Wooden Award, please contact the Wooden Award staff at 213-630-5206 or via email at woodenaward@laac.net.

Penn State officially opens the 2012-13 season on Friday, Nov. 9 when it takes on Saint Francis in a 7:00 p.m. tip at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Single game tickets for men’s basketball are available by calling 1-800-NITTANY or by visiting GoPSUsports.com/tickets or Ticketmaster. Single-game tickets for Nittany Lion games are $24 for lower bowl seats between the baselines, $18 for the lower bowl behind the baskets and upper level between the baselines and $15 for upper level behind the basket seats for adults and seniors. Youth tickets (18 and under) are $10, while Penn State student tickets (University Park or branch campus) are $5.